French Open champ Nadal withdraws from Queen's Club

LONDON (AP) — French Open champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week's Queen's Club tournament in an attempt to be ready for Wimbledon.

The No. 1-ranked Nadal won his 11th title at Roland Garros on Sunday. But after playing 27 matches on clay the past two months, the 32-year-old Spaniard feels he needs time to recover.

Nadal said in a statement: "Queen's is a great event, I have happy memories of winning the title in 2008 and I wanted to come back this year. But it has been a very long clay court season for me with great results. I have spoken to my doctors and I need to listen to what my body is telling me."

Queen's is one of the main warm-up tournaments for Wimbledon, which begins on July 2.